Tom asked in a comment what I meant by relationship.
Here is a picture of Robin and I walking along the beach at St Andrews a few years ago. Robin is wearing a hat because at the time she had no hair. She was in the midst of a gruesome series of chemo.
I bring this up because of the work that Robin does. She is a hospice volunteer.
My point about relationship is this. Most of the people that she works with have cancer and have had or are enduring chemo. She can quietly tell them that she knows what this is all about. Not just the hell of the treatment but the ongoing question of what will it be like to die a hard and early death.
When she makes this connection - everything changes.
We think today that making a good presentation is about artifice - being skilled at Power Point. We think today that offering good medical care is about technical skill (true for surgery). We think that being a good teacher is all about the technical qualification. We think that making good programs is all about again the technical skill.
But while these skills are important - maybe not power point - it is the connection that is the key to the kingdom.
When the hearts are joined, great things can happen.
I think that what we can so easily miss is that we are also energetic beings. We have become so focused on the kinetic side of life - the tangible surface - that we miss that reality, that it is how we feel that drives our existence.
The scarcest item in the world today is trust. By making everything kinetic, we have reduced everything to a meaningless commodity.
Those who understand that bringing meaning and trust back to what they do, will prosper.
